Sports Mole previews Thursday’s Europa League clash between Real Sociedad and PAOK, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Real Sociedad and PAOK will both be looking to secure their spots in the Europa League playoff round when they lock horns in Thursday’s meeting at the Reale Arena.
La Real occupy 18th place in the league phase with 10 points to their name, while PAOK are sitting just one place above their hosts on goal difference.
Match preview
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Real Sociedad have experienced mixed fortunes in the inaugural league phase, having won three, drawn one and lost three of their seven matches.
After taking a point from their first two games, Real Sociedad went on to claim a 2-1 victory over Maccabi Tel Aviv, before they conceded late to lose 2-1 in their away meeting with Viktoria Plzen on matchday four.
La Real got their European campaign back on track with home wins against Ajax and Dynamo Kiev, but they were unable to make it three consecutive Europa League victories in last week’s trip to the Italian capital as they fell to a 3-1 defeat to Lazio.
The Italian side ultimately took full advantage of Aihen Munoz’s 30th-minute red card, establishing a three-goal lead at the Stadio Olimpico before Ander Barrenetxea scored a late consolation, as La Real missed the chance to seal their place in the knockout round playoffs.
With a two-point gap to 25th position, Real Sociedad are still well-placed to advance to the knockout rounds, although they will head into Thursday’s fixture low on confidence after they suffered a heavy 3-0 defeat in Sunday’s league meeting with Getafe, representing a third consecutive loss in all competitions.
However, they can still take inspiration from the fact they have won their last two European outings at the Reale Arena, leaving them on the brink of winning three successive home matches in major UEFA competition for the first time since they recorded nine straight home victories between 1988 and 2003.
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After progressing to the Conference League quarter-finals last season, PAOK travelled to Spain with the chance to reach the knockout rounds of a UEFA competition for the second campaign in a row.
The Greek side will be satisfied to be sitting two points above Porto in 25th position, especially as they made a disastrous start to the league phase, mustering just one point from their opening four matches.
PAOK claimed a 2-0 away victory over Rigas FS to give their Europa League campaign some much-needed impetus, before they eased to a 5-0 home win over Ferencvaros in their final European outing of 2024.
Razvan Lucescu’s side collected a third successive Europa League victory in last week’s home clash against Slavia Prague, with Stefan Schwab netting a first-half spot, before Giannis Konstantelias put his name on the scoresheet in the second period to wrap up a 2-0 win.
They backed up that result with a narrow 1-0 win in Sunday’s league meeting with Levadiakos, ensuring they will head into Thursday’s fixture on the back of three consecutive clean sheets in all competitions.
PAOK will hope a strong backline can provide the foundation for their first-ever competitive away victory in Spain, having drawn two and lost four of their previous six European away matches against Spanish opposition.
Real Sociedad Europa League form:
Real Sociedad form (all competitions):
PAOK Europa League form:
PAOK form (all competitions):
Team News
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Real Sociedad’s Munoz picked up a back issue at the weekend, although he will miss Thursday’s contest regardless of any injury issue after being sent off against Lazio.
Hamari Traore has stepped up his recovery from a long-term knee injury, but the right-back is not yet ready to return to competitive action.
Arsen Zakharyan could be fit to feature on the substitutes’ bench, having been absent from the last four matchday squads due to an ankle issue.
As for the visitors, they are expected to be without defender Omar Colley and attacker Andrija Zivkovic due to injury.
Jiri Pavlenka, Dejan Lovren, Jonathan Gomez, Vierinha, Sergio Pena, Thomas Murg and Ally Samatta have not registered for the league phase.
However, Mady Camara will be available for selection after serving a one-match ban on matchday seven for an accumulation of yellow cards.
Real Sociedad possible starting lineup:Remiro; Aramburu, Zubeldia, Aguerd, Lopez; Turrientes, Zubimendi, Sucic, Gomez; Kubo, Oyarzabal
PAOK possible starting lineup:Kotarski; Otto, Kedziora, Michailidis, Baba; Camara, Pena; Despodov, Konstantelias, Taison; Chalov
We say: Real Sociedad 2-1 PAOK
PAOK may have won their last three European matches, but they have lost two of their three away games in the league phase, and with that in mind, we think they will fall just short against a Real Sociedad side that have won their previous two home Europa League fixtures.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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